


A One Night Plan

by noimalive



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: F/M, gansey and blue have a shitty date and solve a murder, lovebirds au except its a first date bc thats what i originally thought the movie was, mild violence but its a rom com au, pynch sets up bluesey for once and not other way aroud
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 12:02:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24969385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noimalive/pseuds/noimalive
Summary: After being set up by their mutual friends, Blue and Gansey are on a dismal first date. When the date ends with a stranger committing murder with Gansey’s distinctly orange Camaro, Gansey and Blue find themselves teaming up to solve the murder mystery in order to clear their names. It’s just a partnership of necessity, nothing more.(concept+events loosely based on Lovebirds, a Netflix original movie)
Relationships: Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent
Kudos: 2





	A One Night Plan

**Author's Note:**

> We’re going to pretend Henrietta is in Maryland because I was struggling to find VA state schools close to D.C. 
> 
> Also, the source material involves fear/anxiety about negative police interactions. I understand this is a super sensitive topic, so I am going to try to minimize its role and add warnings before chapters with police in them, but please let me know if my language is problematic and I will change it or eliminate those sections. This first chapter has the section that could potentially be triggering marked off and summarized in the end notes. 
> 
> Finally, if I censor G-d it is because I’m Jewish not because the characters are.

Blue really shouldn’t be nervous. It was just a stupid date to appease Adam and Ronan. It wasn’t like them to set her up with someone, but they had been bugging her about Gansey for weeks now. Based on everything she had heard about him, Blue expected this date to be hilariously awful. 

She didn’t go on many dates. There had been a boy in her Environmental Policy and Economics lecture in freshman year, and that girl with a Gender Studies major earlier this year, but that was really it. This summer had been different, though, than the rest of her three years at college. Most of her friends had gone home, so the campus was quiet. Even with her assigned roommate (she had negotiated with Student Services for summer on-campus housing), Blue was lonely. So she had done her hair and found a dress with minimal newspaper sewed into it and agreed to this date. 

Blue sat perched on the steps outside her dorm building. She probably could have biked to wherever the restaurant was, but Gansey had insisted on picking her up. It was nearly six, but it was still sufficiently humid that her hair was beginning to fall out of the loose bun. Curls stuck to her face. It was unpleasant enough that she started to wish for Gansey to arrive soon. At the sound of a motor nearby, Blue stood up. 

The car parked, and a boy stepped out. His hair was smooth and shiny, despite the Maryland humidity, and he held a cellphone to his ear. He walked toward her, still on the phone, and she instantly felt a pang of dislike. Who picked up their date like that? Apparently, Gansey did. 

When he was a few feet from her, Gansey hung up and slipped the phone into his back pocket. “You must be Blue?” he said easily. 

Blue eyed his teal blue polo. “And you’re Gansey.” Maura Sargent hadn’t taught Blue to be rude, so despite her contempt, Blue added, “It’s very nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you from Adam and Ronan.” 

He smiled at the mention of his friends. “Same here.” There was enough space between them that she didn’t have to worry about hugging or shaking hands in an awkward greeting. He gestured to his car. “Shall we?”

Blue let Gansey open the passenger door for her without comment. If he pulled out her chair for her in the restaurant, she would have to make a remark on outdated chivalry. Trying to avoid an uncomfortable silence, Blue said the first thing on her mind. “Your car is very orange.” 

Gansey laughed. He looked a bit less polished for a moment, and Blue didn’t mind. “Isn’t it! I call it the Pig.”  
“Why?”

He shrugged. “It just seemed right. It’s a 1973 Camaro, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.” 

Oh no, Blue thought. Is Gansey a car buff? She should’ve known better than to accept the recommendations of Ronan and Adam, who were also somewhat car obsessed. “I can’t say I’m into cars, knowing the environmental implications of them. Isn’t there public transportation in D.C.?” 

“Right! I should know better than to ask an Environmental Studies major that!” Gansey said. Blue was a little pleased that he knew what she was studying. “And yes, the Metro is mildly comprehensive, but I’m quite attached to the Pig and having a car on-campus is far more convenient.” Blue tried not to think about the cost of a campus parking permit and the definition of convenient. 

“Are you staying on campus this summer?” Blue asked, trying to seque away from expensive cars and carbon emissions. 

“Sort of,” Gansey answered. “I’m staying in an apartment just off campus. I originally wanted to find a place closer to my internship, but I realized it would be easier in the fall if I had housing by Georgetown over the summer.” 

“What’s the internship?” Blue asked. 

“I’m working for a congressman’s re-election campaign. It’s mostly strategizing how to access voters, but there’s some coffee fetching.” 

Blue was worried that if she asked which congressman, she would have to ditch her date. So, instead she said, “I bet you know all the best coffee spots in D.C. then.” 

Debating the best and worst coffee shops in the area consumed the rest of the car ride. When Blue saw the restaurant, she narrowed her eyes, but decided not to comment. Although he had already committed some date infractions, Gansey didn’t seem too horrible. 

After they followed the hostess to their seats, Gansey asked, “So what are you doing on campus this summer? Do you have an internship?”

“One of my professors is doing research, and she invited me to work with her this summer. She studying the connection between water pollution and rates of birth defects or miscarriage. There’s a bunch of river samples, so basically I’m analyzing those and sorting through some demographic data. Plus I’m working at a cafe near campus.” 

“That seems like a lot to balance,” Gansey said.  
“It is, but the research is’t paid. Unfortunately, everyone expects college students to do free labor.” 

“Oh,” Gansey said, after a pause. “At least you’re keeping busy!” Blue imagined that his internship was unpaid, and it hadn’t even been a consideration for him. She also imagined that if he had to juggle classes, a job, and extracurriculars, Gansey wouldn’t see busy-ness as a positive thing. “So have you found anything yet in your research?”

“There’s still a lot of data to comb through, so we don’t have any official findings. I definitely see some correlations, but I haven’t taken enough stats classes to make that determination.” 

“What happens once you find something?” Gansey sounded genuinely curious. 

“My professor would publish it in a journal, probably try to get more funding to do further research to confirm causation.” 

“What if the correlation isn’t that clear though? Areas with more pollution are more impoverished and probably have less funding for hospitals, and the residents might not get proper prenatal care. Wouldn’t that cause problems, instead of the water pollution?” 

Blue tried to resist rolling her eyes. Was he seriously trying to explain her own research to her? “We know how to control for confounding variables, Gansey. There’s always a lot of factors involved in these sorts of things. That’s the point of environmental studies- understanding how the environment relates to healthcare, class, the law, the economy, politics, et cetera.” 

Gansey didn’t seem embarrassed by Blue’s abrupt response. “I thought it was a fair question, but it makes sense that you would have taken it into account already. You must have to take a lot of different classes for your major then, right?” 

Blue let him smoothly change the subject, and they talked about classes until the food arrived. She felt a little bad that she didn’t know Gansey’s major, but it was too late to ask now. It was probably something like poli-sci or economics. 

At an awkward silence, Blue finally allowed herself to use easy conversation fodder. “How did you meet Adam?” 

Gansey looked grateful for the opportunity to talk about their mutual friend. “We had Latin together freshman year. He was the best in the class, despite being in the engineering school and not needing to take a language. I somehow convinced him to make a study group with me.” 

Blue wondered why someone like Gansey would take Latin, but it was probably for a pretentious reason. “Was Adam able to help you?”  
“Thankfully, yes. Tragically, he’s not taking Latin anymore so I’m on my own. But we ended up becoming friends.” 

“When did you meet Ronan?” Blue asked, eagerly. From what Ronan told her, Adam had egregiously mischaracterized his boyfriend to his college friends, resulting in a variety of uncomfortable interactions. 

“I was surprised, to say the least. Definitely not the farmer boyfriend I pictured. But eventually I grew on him, I think.” 

“Honestly, it’s a bit hard to picture you and Ronan as friends.” 

Gansey smiled. “I can definitely see you and Ronan as friends, though.” Blue wasn’t sure if she was offended or pleased by this. “You’re actually rather similar.”

“Ronan didn’t like me when we first met. Adam and I worked together after school- that’s why we were friends. So Ronan would come in and be like, super hostile to me, because he thought me and Adam had a thing. This is before they were dating, of course.” 

“You all didn’t go to high school together?” 

Blue laughed, thinking of Aglionby. “Uh, definitely not. They went to this all-boys private school, that was essentially the culmination of the worst of prep schools, which is saying something.” 

Gansey furrowed his brow. “I went to a prep school. They aren’t all bad! I mean, everyone in my year was accepted to a top college- that counts for something.” 

Blue rolls her eyes, for real this time. “There are a few reasons why everyone got into a great school, and I’m confident that it wasn’t their personalities.” 

“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with getting a quality education.” 

“No there isn’t, but there is something wrong with pricey prep school kids going to pricey elite colleges getting the best, highest-paying jobs. And my state university education is quality enough, thank you.” 

Gansey had the courtesy to cringe. “I don’t disagree with you-”

“It is a privilege to attend college, one that I didn’t have a guarantee of growing up. I worked hard for that privilege- academically and financially. I’m grateful for the opportunity to go to college for four years, and frankly, I’m not interested in someone who doesn't appreciate the opportunity as much as I do.” Blue could feel her cheeks getting red as she stood up from the table. Maura hadn’t taught her to be rude, but Calla certainly had. Besides, rudeness with warrant wasn’t wrong. 

Gansey stood up, too, looking harried. “Blue, I’m sorry I offended you. I really didn’t mean it that way, but I understood why you interpreted it wrong.” 

Blue clenched her hands into fists at her side. “It’s too bad your quality education didn’t teach you how to apologize .” She turned to a passing waitress. “Can we get the check, please?” 

“Blue? It’s so good to see you, what are you doing here?” Because of course she had asked Cialina. 

Blue gave her a look of desperation. “I was on a date.” Cialina caught her meaning and ran to get the check.

“How does she know you?” Gansey said, breaking his silence. 

Blue sighed. “I used to work here, which I wasn’t going to mention out of common courtesy.”

Gansey grimaced. “Shit. I’m sorry. No wonder you felt awkward.” 

She gave him a cool glare. “Don’t worry. That wasn’t what made me uncomfortable.” 

He looked away, finally at a loss for words. Or maybe Gansey realized that he was making it worse. At last, the check arrived. They split it evenly; Gansey didn’t offer to pay for her meal, for which she was grateful. Less awkward exchanges. 

As they walked out of the restaurant, Gansey asked, “Would you prefer if I got you a cab?” 

“No,” Blue said shortly. “I’ll take the bus.” 

Gansey rubbed his thumb over his mouth. “C’mon, Blue. Let me drive you back.” 

She considered the balance remaining on her MetroCard and the amount of transfers required to return to campus this late in the evening. “Okay.” 

Blue climbed in the car. They drove in silence for a few minutes, and then there was a loud thump. A young man on a skateboard was a few feet from the front of the car. 

Gansey braked, hard. He opened his door and jumped out. “Holy shit! Are you okay? I’m so sorry.” Blue peered through the windshield, over the now dented front of the car. The skateboarder was getting to his feet, despite the blood gushing from the side of his head. Gansey pulled the skateboard out from under the car. She watched the young man brush off Gansey, hop back onto the skateboard, and ride away. 

Gansey got back into the car. “I tried to help him, but he just rode off. What do we do?”

“I don’t know,” Blue said. “Maybe he didn’t need help?”

“He’s bleeding really badly. Definitely needs stitches.”

“I guess he just didn’t want it then. Also, the Pig is dented.”

Gansey sighed. “Yea, I saw, but that doesn’t really matter right now.” Blue was slightly surprised. “That guy is injured because of me. Also he left his phone, I’ve got to return it.” 

“He did kind of skate into your car.” Blue didn’t know why she was defending Gansey to himself, instead of backing the victim. “We can try to find him, if you want, but I think he would’ve waited if he wanted your help.” 

Gansey nodded. “Yea, I suppose. Do you want me to take you home, or do you want to look for him?”

\--Begin TW- Violence by Police Officer--(summary in end notes)

Before Blue could answer, there was a sharp knock on the window. Gansey lowered his window, revealing a man with unusually large eyes. “I’m an undercover police officer,” he said rapidly. “I’m commandeering this vehicle to apprehend a criminal.” 

Gansey looked at Blue, as if to say Is this actually happening? Blue raised her eyebrows, meaning there’s no way that this is legal. 

Blue was going to ask to see a badge and possibly a warrant, but the man had already opened the front door, leaving Gansey to scramble into the back of the car. The officer steered into a side street, and by the sound of the Pig’s engine, he was pressing the gas pedal to the floor. Through the rearview mirror, she could see Gansey holding his face in his hands, deeply anxious. 

The officer maneuvered the car through a series of increasingly narrow alleys. Then, Blue caught sight of the target. She wasn’t able to stop herself from gasping, “Oh my G-d! It’s the skateboarder!” 

“You know him?!” the cop exclaimed. 

Gansey looked to Blue, clearly wondering if it was okay to reveal this information. “We, uh, hit him just a few minutes ago.” She was grateful that he didn’t mention having the skateboarder's phone in their possession. 

“Hm.” 

Blue wrung her hands. She didn’t know what was going on, and she didn’t like it. They came to a dead-end, cornering the skateboarder. Surely, the chase was over, and the police officer would get out of the car and arrest him. Then Blue and Gansey’s involvement in this debacle would be over. But he kept driving. Blue’s stomach lurched, and she covered her eyes. 

She felt the car stop. She opened her eyes, to an empty driver’s seat. Blue turned around, taking in Gansey’s state of anguish. “What just happened?” he said, frantic. 

“We have to do something!” Blue clambered out of the car, and Gansey did the same. The skateboarder lay beside the car. His arm twitched slightly- evidently, he was alive. Blue breathed a sigh of relief, then knelt down on the pavement. She felt a sharp pain as broken glass cut her knees, and small beads of blood dotted her skin. 

“Blue, where’s the skateboard?” Gansey asked, scanning the area.

“I don’t see it, but it probably just-”

“Blue, move!” Gansey shouted. She darted out of the way without hesitation. 

A sickening crunch echoed through the alley. The officer gripped the skateboard in his hands, now flecked with blood. As soon as Blue registered what was happening, he brought the skateboard down again. Something splattered onto her outstretched hands, as she shielded her face.

“Stop it! You’re killing him!” Blue screamed. 

The man stood and faced them. “He’s already dead.” There was a black gun in his hand. He looked from Blue to Gansey, as they stood there, frozen. Then a siren sounded close by, and the man sprinted away. 

\--END TW---

“He’s dead.” Gansey after a minute. “I can’t believe it.” 

Blue started to ask, “What do we do now?” but caught sight of two passerbys. She watched as they took in the gruesome scene. 

“Oh my G-d,” the woman was saying. “Is that guy dead?!” 

“I’m calling 911,” the man with her said. Gansey and Blue exchanged a glance, uncertain how to address these people. “Hi, 911? I would like to report a murder? At least I think it’s a murder.”

The woman pointed to Blue and Gansey. “It wasn’t us!” Gansey said quickly. “Well, we did hit him, but that was earlier and unrelated!” 

“It looks like he was hit with a skateboard, and possibly also a car? Yea, it’s bright orange. Like not a nice sunset orange, it’s an obnoxious orange.” 

Gansey gestured vaguely in exasperation. Blue turned to the woman. “Some guy took over the car! He said he was a cop, but obviously that was a lie. It wasn’t us, we’re just witnesses.” 

The woman ignored them, and took the phone from the man. “The two drivers are here. The girl is like, covered in blood. Or some other fluid, I’m honestly not sure, it’s really gross.” Blue looked at her hands, a wave of nausea hitting her. “Uh, I’m going to say the guy is maybe 20? He has a preppy teal polo on, if that helps.” 

Blue grabbed Gansey’s hand. “They think it’s us! We need to get out of here!”

“That’s going to make it worse!” 

“Your fingerprints are on the skateboard, and I was bleeding on the scene!” She tugged his hand. “Come on Gansey!” 

“Okay, the boy’s name is Gansey.” the woman said into the phone. 

Gansey’s eyes widened. “Let’s go now, Blue!”

“The girl’s name is Blue. Yes, I know those don’t sound like real names.” 

Blue pulled Gansey behind her as they ran out of the alley and into the night.

**Author's Note:**

> (summary of TW section- a man, who claims to be a cop, commandeers the Pig to pursue the skateboarder, who he says is a criminal. Blue and Gansey are extremely uncomfortable but don't know what to do. The man kills the skateboarder, threatens Blue and Gansey, then runs away when he hears sirens) 
> 
> I realize this is kinda dark right now, but it is supposed to be based on a rom-com! things will lighten up.
> 
> find me on tumblr- henryandthegangsey and reblog on tumblr https://henryandthegangsey.tumblr.com/post/622206902267527168/a-one-night-plan-chapter-1-noimalive-raven


End file.
